Emails: Del. Terry Kilgore had tobacco commission job in the works for state Sen. Phillip Puckett

Del. Terry Kilgore, left, and Sen. Phillip Puckett

June 26, 2014|By Travis Fain, tfain@dailypress.com

RICHMOND – State Del. Terry Kilgore targeted former state Sen. Phillip Puckett for a job at the state's tobacco commission despite concerns that it would look bad if Puckett took the job just as he resigned from the state Senate, commission emails released Thursday through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act indicate.

The commission's interim executive director, Tim Pfohl, expressed these concerns to Puckett shortly before the Tazewell Democrat resigned, flipping the Senate's balance of power to Republicans and helping to break a logjam on the state budget.

In that email, Pfohl told Puckett that he "implored" Kilgore, R-Gate City and the commission's chairman, to "decouple" the two announcements. He said he wanted to avoid "the appearance of the commission manipulating the Senate balance of power and starting WW3 w/ the Governor's administration."

The email's subject line reads, "Today's directive from Terry K."

Manipulation is exactly what Kilgore, and legislative Republicans in general, have been accused of by Democrats angry over Puckett's surprise resignation. A federal investigation is underway, and a grand jury met earlier this week in Abington to hear testimony and go over documents, federal subpoenas show.

Kilgore and Puckett have both hired attorneys, but attempts to reach them Thursday evening were not immediately successful.

The emails released Thursday by the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission provide a partial timetable for the days leading up to, and just after, Puckett's resignation. They show more than a week's worth of conversations about the job that Puckett was once expected to take, but which he took himself out of the running for after a backlash over his resignation.

Puckett has said he was never "officially offered a job by the tobacco commission," but the emails show commission staffers worked up a job description with Puckett in mind and reached out to him about it more than a week before he resigned..

On May 29, Pfohl emailed Ned Stephenson, the commission's director of investments.

"If you're in tomorrow Terry would like us to call Puckett to discuss what kind of role he might like w/ Commission," he wrote.

The next day Pfohl emailed Puckett.

"Phillip: Chairman Kilgore has asked Ned and I to reach out to you to discuss potential role(s) for you as an employee of the commission," he wrote. "I'm not aware of the genesis of this idea, but Terry has asked us to speak to you when you're available."

Stephenson sent Puckett a potential job description on June 5.

"Attached is a draft job description that Chairman Kilgore asked me to prepare for discussion purposes among you, him and Director Pfohl," Stephenson wrote. "It is in Word form, which is easily edited, and I welcome your comments and conversation about how we can shape this for mutual success."

The attachment is titled "Puckett job description draft," and Kilgore is copied on the email. It gives the job title as "senior adviser to the commission," with a start date of June 25. It does not list a salary, but indicates that the job would be full time with regular state employee benefits, a cell phone and possibly a car.

About 10 and a half hours later, Pfohl emailed Puckett to express his reservations about the plan, suggest decoupling the job and resignation announcements and ask whether Gov. Terry McAuliffe's administration was aware of Puckett's plans.

"Let's hope this all goes as smoothly as possible," Pfohl said in closing.

Puckett resigned on Saturday, June 7, and the story hit the newspapers on Sunday, June 8. The next morning, Pfohl emailed commission staffers and copied outside attorneys for the commission.

"First, and most importantly at this point, any requests for information from the media, citizens or others should be referred to me, and I will refer them on to Chairman Kilgore," Pfohl wrote.

Pfohl added that any calls from McAuliffe's administration should also go to him. At the bottom of the email, as provided to the Daily Press, there is a notation indicating that a portion of it was redacted to protect attorney-client privilege.

At this point, a commission executive committee meeting was still planned for Wednesday, June 11. The only agenda item was "discussion and consideration of a prospective candidate for employment," the emails show.

But, later that Monday morning, Pfohl emailed Kilgore to tell him he had tweaked the job description.

"Hold up," Kilgore responded.

Pfohl replied simply, "OK."

"May not (want) to do it," Kilgore wrote back.

Less than an hour later an email went out to executive committee members saying, in bold letters, that Kilgore had cancelled the meeting.